Posted on 04/10/2013 12:27:44 PM PDT by Mount Athos
State Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Tuesday filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Arlene’s Flowers & Gifts, a Richland florist that refused to supply flowers to the same-sex marriage of a longtime customer.
Ferguson said he sent a March 28 letter to owner Barronelle Stutzman asking her to reconsider and supply flowers to customer Robert Ingersoll. Through an attorney, Stutzman declined to change her position.
“As Attorney General, it is my job to enforce the laws of the state of Washington,” said Ferguson. “Under the Consumer Protection Act, it is unlawful to discriminate against customers based on sexual orientation. If a business provides a product or service to opposite-sex couples for their weddings, then it must provide same sex couples the same product or service.”
The lawsuit by Ferguson is bound to revive a warning raised by opponents of marriage equality in last fall’s Washington Voter’s Pamphlet statement against Referendum 74. Foes stated:
“People who disagree with this new definition (of marriage) could find themselves facing sanctions, as has occurred elsewhere. Church groups have lost their tax exemptions. Small businesses were sued. Wedding professionals have been fined.”
The supporters of same-sex marriage, in their rebuttal, stated: “Lawsuits haven’t increased in states with same-sex marriage. Liberty and pursuit of happiness are core American values.”
An employee at Arlene’s Flowers and Gifts said late Tuesday that Stutzman was not present, adding: “None of us will have any comment.” Last month, Stutzman told KEPR-TV in the Tri-Cities:
“He (Ingersoll) said he decided to get married and before he got through I grabbed his hand and said, ‘I am sorry. I can’t do your wedding because of my relationship with Jesus Christ.’ We hugged each other and he left, and I assumed it was the end of the story.”
Ingersoll and his partner, Curt Freed, were decade-long customers of Arlene’s Flowers & Gifts. They went online with the refusal and the story went viral. Stutzman refused to change her position, saying: “It’s a personal conviction. It’s not a matter of being right or wrong. It’s my belief.”
The AG’s office has filed a complaint in Benton County Superior Court asking for a permanent injunction requiring Arlene’s Flowers & Gifts to comply with provisions of the Consumer Protection Act. It is asking that a $2,000 fine be imposed for every violation.
But Stutzman’s attorneys warned the AG that any legal action Ferguson takes would result in “an immediate challenge in federal court,” and indicated that “a number of national non-profit organizations . . . are ready for a fight.”
Benton County rejected Referendum 74 by a 50,000-29,000 vote margin in the November election. Only one place in Eastern Washington, Whitman County, voted in favor of marriage equality. The measure passed statewide thanks to heavy support in populous King County.
It is. It friggin is.
I was embarrassed to walk the streets the day after it passed.
When the feds enforce laws about blocking voting sites regardless of which side the blockers are on.
It’s the “right” of the customer to go to a competitor for a better deal. The fact that they are incensed over one out of presumably many florists tells me that this was a set-up from the beginning.
Depends on SCOTUS. Assuming they rule poorly I'd say as early as next year.
Winning civil rights lawsuits against the religious had ALWAYS been the goal of the homosexualists. They are bound and determined to use the law to change church doctrine. "Gay marriage" is just a means to an end.
If you think businesses in America have the right to refuse service to anyone, you are living in the 50s!
The Owner should have stated we have no knowledge of what a gay marraige entails or what flowers would be appropiate for this type of wedding but We can give you a few refrences of professionals that are in tune with type of wedding so the best experience can be nurtured from their union!
It is why government is evil.....it is always force......that we have a unleashed “justice” system is unconstitutional on so many levels.
We are run by mafia/cartels now...and they force their ideology on everyone-—it is Satanic Ethics-—and God is going into the toilet when our Rights come from God-—and they erase God-—we have no Rights whatsoever.
Like I say-—Rights come from God in this country-—not the State. The State is supposed to support NATURAL RIGHTS FROM GOD-—not Satanic rights to sodomize others which is dehumanizing and a Vice-—Justice is a virtue-—Law CAN NEVER promote VICE in a Justice System.
It is why Mark Levine states we are Post-Constitutional now. We have NO “Justice” system anymore. Our courts are totally corrupt.....and Cicero stated when their is no Rule of Law (Higher Laws than arbitrary man-made up cr*p) we will have chaos and collapse.
The state will not win this. the business is a private enterprise, based on religious viewpoints you can deny doing business irregradless of sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is not a disability. There is a limit to the civil liberties clause. Sexual orientation is a choice not a right. So if a business is selling flowers and chocolate, based on sexual orientation a woman or man wants to buy flowers for a minor student (construed as pedophile), a pet (bestality), a goat, horse, a cow, a sheep (bestality). The management refuses to sell based on this sexual orientation, thus it will be shoot down.
Actually, Arlene’s has done business with this particular customer and other homosexuals for a long time and has employed homo workers. But she drew the line at a wedding ceremony. This customer wasn’t trying to get a reaction out of her — he went to the business because it was his florist.
I say this because many of the stereotypes of how this situation came about are not true. In fact, the customer didn’t make that huge of a deal of the refusal although he did write about it on his Facebook page. Others took the ball and made it into a test case.
and under the US Constitution it is unlawful to infringe upon someones religion and try to force them through the coercive power of government to condone sinful behavior.
It wasn't. See #30.
Such is the price of abdicating in favor of a conquering coalition. "Woe to the conquered!"
Two words to counsel..
Up yurs
>> How long until churches are sued for refusing to marry homosexuals?
Just as soon a a church refuses to marry them in a state where it is legal. You know that they are eager to get that lawsuit underway. Forcing churches to marry sodomites is very high on their list of things to do.
This is the endgame of the movement. To undermine and eventually destroy religious institutions in our country. Government>God. The left is a firm believer in the former, but not the later. This is why the marriage battle must be fought. Get government out of marriage. For government, it is nothing more than a legal contract, and needs be called something else. Leave marriage to the church.
I thought that the First Amendment settled all this, a couple hundred years ago.
Sex perverts/offenders are to be monitored, not married.
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